On the 4 June, Britain’s Sunak and Starmer went head-to-head on ITV’s general election debate, getting heated over how to boost Britain’s economy. What wasn’t covered was matters pertaining to the creative industries, one of the Prime Minister’s priority sectors for economic growth. Responding to The Art Newspaper, spokespersons from Liberal Democrats and the Green Party accuse the Conservatives of neglecting the art industries and of ‘cultural vandalism’ over the past 14 years, whilst Labour vowed to ‘treat the brief with more respect’.
The fact of the matter is, Britain’s creative industries are a success story, despite all odds. Over the past decade these industries have grown at more than 1.5 times the rate of the wider economy, contributing £125bn, almost 6% of the economy. This is against the backdrop of cuts to arts funding, Covid-19, Brexit, rising costs and the Conservative push on STEM subjects. In essence, Britain’s creative industries are ready, and excelling in the global arena, and British politics is not doing enough to support their growth in a sustained and meaningful way.
Mixed messages and blurry lines
For over a decade, cuts to central government and local authority funding has led to severe social, economic and cultural damage. Across 2010-2023, lottery money and grants-in-aid fell as did the budget of Arts Council England by approximately 30%. In June 2023 the government announced ambitious plans to grow the creative industries by £50bn and support a million more jobs by 2030, with £77m of new funding for the sector. Unfortunately, many on the ground have yet to feel this trickle down, as young creatives continue to get edged out of big cities, in particular London. Though politics and art are intertwined in many creative contexts, for many young creatives today, they are disenfranchised with politics because it is simply not serving them.
The government’s recent thrust for the creative industries is late, but better late than never. However, their obsession with STEM continues with a new incentive from September — a £200m investment to ensure ‘vital’ subjects can recruit and retain the best staff whilst university arts funding stays frozen. Coupling this with the Prime Minister’s enthusiasm to support the indie film, the Conservatives’ approach to the arts just ‘makes no sense’ as stated by The Stage.
The issue runs deeper
Compared to other industries, the creative industries are broad and diverse, with sectors like advertising, marketing and digital powering other sectors across our economy. In acknowledging the breadth and richness that exists across the creative sectors, we must also acknowledge the different experiences from those who work in these sectors.
40% of recent British award nominees were privately educated versus 6% of the population. The number of middle and upper-class people in TV has been at its highest in the past decade at 60% and across the arts 90% are white, nearly 70% are men and 1% of those managers are Black.
Social inequalities in who produces and participates in the creative and cultural sectors persist. The experience from those who seek these opportunities is becoming more polarised, between those who have access and those who don’t. Therefore, creativity is a political issue that is embedded with social, economic, and cultural inequality that starts early and is cyclical.
If creativity is a luxury, then being human is a luxury
As creativity and art became more out of reach for many professionally, it became exclusive. Queer author Jeanette Winterson remarked on the false binaries we are caught in today: To lead a ‘normal’ life or to lead a happy life? To fund the arts or healthcare? To be successful or to be creative? These are the messages communicated, consciously and unconsciously, that contribute to the perception of creativity as unattainable.
The truth is the opposite. Creativity is vital and must not be perceived as mutually exclusive to other priorities or professions. Creativity is good for us and in turn the world around us. It demands imagination, empathy, irrationality and originality and it exists beyond the defined parameters of job titles or GVA metrics.
Ring-fencing or weaponising creativity stunts it, and impacts the productivity of future generations — it’s our last frontier in an increasingly digitised and AI-powered world, as it is innately human.
A calling for change
This 4 July, three themes stand out in our calling for change:
- EDUCATION: Echoing Creative UK’s top priority, foster creativity at a young age through skills and education right up to higher education. UCAS 2024 reports 22% of A Level entries in 2022/23 came from creative subjects, yet creative degrees only made up 9% of domestic undergraduate applications. This includes prioritising creative and cultural subjects in the curriculum and experiences, possibly through increased funding. In addition, support for children from all backgrounds to have access to this is imperative, paying particular attention to communities that are underserved in order to encourage social mobility.
- PROTECTION: The creative workforce is dynamic but not buoyant. More buffers are needed to protect small businesses and self-employed individuals who work project to project and are sometimes reactive to external forces at play. Protecting creative and cultural IP and contributions, despite their economic ‘significance’ is also important. This spans across ownership rights for artists, as well as nightlife and music institutions that act as third spaces for creative expression and collaboration.
- INNOVATION: Promote and boost innovation through strategic funding and subsidies for creative research and development of new products and services across the country. The creative and cultural industries generate 6% of the UK’s GVA, but only receive 1% of research funding. In order to sustain the rate of growth and be competitive globally in the export of goods, creative work needs to be stimulated and barriers need to be removed where possible.
Why we should all do politics
The creative industries’ ability to flourish always rests on the wider context of policy and politics. Where we are today is a reflection of what has been, but not necessarily what is going to persist. For those disenchanted with politics, it matters to be engaged — in fact even more so for those who work in the creative industries.
Creativity holds a powerful influence in the world and shapes it in meaningful ways. To box creativity for the privileged few is to manipulate the depth of the human experience and the potency of our potential. Therefore we must exercise and preserve our creativity at all costs. And that process includes the ballot box in 2 weeks time.
Featured image: D&AD Awards Judging 2023
